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First name
Sohaila
Last name
Cheema
    Description
    Scientific peer-reviewed publication
    Description/abstract

    School closures during pandemics raise important concerns for children and adolescents. Our aim is synthesizing available data on the impact of school closure during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on child and adolescent health globally. We conducted a rapid systematic review by searching PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar for any study published between January and September 2020. We included a total of ten primary studies. COVID-19-related school closure was associated with a significant decline in the number of hospital admissions and pediatric emergency department visits. However, a number of children and adolescents lost access to school-based healthcare services, special services for children with disabilities, and nutrition programs. A greater risk of widening educational disparities due to lack of support and resources for remote learning were also reported among poorer families and children with disabilities. School closure also contributed to increased anxiety and loneliness in young people and child stress, sadness, frustration, indiscipline, and hyperactivity. The longer the duration of school closure and reduction of daily physical activity, the higher was the predicted increase of Body Mass Index and childhood obesity prevalence. There is a need to identify children and adolescents at higher risk of learning and mental health impairments and support them during school closures.

    Publication Language
    English
    Free Keywords
    Policy measures
    Topics
    Health status » Morbidity/disability » Communicable diseases » Covid-19;
    Policy » Adherence/ compliance to measure
    ISSN Number
    2227-9067
    Access rights to the publication
    Closed access
    Country(ies)
    International
    Policy measure
    Measures
    Journal
    Children
    Publisher
    MDPI AG
    Year of Publication
    2021
    Volume
    8
    Issue
    5
    Pages
    415
    Corresponding author
    Sohaila Cheema
    Contact e-mail
    oc2005@qatar-med.cornell.edu
    Contact info (address)

    Institute for Population Health, Weill Cornell Medicine—Qatar Education City, Qatar Foundation, P.O. Box 24144, Doha, Qatar